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Zefferelli's is a sophisticated, warm spot upstairs on Robson Street featuring a menu of rustic, authentic Italian cuisine.
Went here last Friday for a group X-mas lunch, first time. It's on the 2nd floor, just above the Cactus Club on Robson St. The place was full due to many X-mas lunch parties. First thing I noticed was how loud it was, where you can't even hear the person sitting across from you. My ears were actually hurting and I would say it's much louder than at a popular Chinese restaurant during Dim Sum on Saturdays. The server did not mention the daily specials or maybe she did and I didn't hear her. I shared the cold appy platter - nice with several different veggies, mussels etc. Then the veal for the main dish - just average and not well put together. Came with risotto which was pretty bad, was not very creamy and was more like a bad rice pilaf at a greek restaurant. Price was a bit high, just under $20. My companions had the pasta and they looked good and they were large portions. Many couldn't finish so why don't they cut the size a bit and also the price as they were approx. $16. Overall I may try again to give them another chance but first experience was not good.
I never eat pasta, but truly love it. This restaurant makes the best spaghetti ever!!!!!! I had enough to have it the next day, and cant give it a high enough rating,. I had a lovely seat at the window, a great glass of wine, and enjoyed it immensely. Only thing is, my son is in a wheelchair, and I wish I could share this great place with him
Food: spaghetti al ragu was a bit on the salty side for me. i had the linguine w/ italian sausage a few weeks ago and i enjoyed that much better. fettucine con polo had a nice balance b/w texture, taste, and temperature. my b/f was impressed by his first bite.
Service: our server this time was very casual and aloof. she was nice but nothing spectacular. our server last time was fantastic! he was so attentive in making suggestions, offering us a dessert not even on the menu, coming by to check up on us, etc. it was night and day.
Value: fairly large portions. for a few dollars more i'd rather come here for pasta then have pasta at earls, cactus, or milestones.
Ambiance: very comfortable setting. enjoyed our window seats overlooking robson. by boyfriend liked the display of wines along the wall. date appropriate. on both recent visits they didnt rush us at all. we were able to have nice, long, intimate dinners.
Overall: def worth putting into the rotation. i wouldnt mind trying their non pasta entree dishes next time. if you've got your entertainment card, dont forget to bring it to save up to $19!!
The pastas are served in quite reasonable portions. The prices are surprisingly good for the location especially when you want to let your wallet take a break from the hits received from the great restaurant next door, CinCin's.
The pastas are made nicely al dente. The sauces are flavourful. The margherita pizza appetizer seems lacking in something. But even so, portion-wise, it might as well have been a full entree order!
The tiramisu dessert is a little too sugary while the layers of mascarpone is a little thin (equally as thin/thick as the brown sugary layer(s)) as well as too thin sponge layer. Not a tasty balance at all. Size-wise, it is a generously large square more than adequate for sharing between two.
As the evening wore on, the room filled up, and got much more livelier. For the early diner, it can be romantic, but later, it becomes more of a classy family restaurant because of the noise level and the crowd.
All in all, a positive experience so I will be back to try their osso buco, which I would have opted for over one of our pastas, but our server neglected to mention ANY of their daily specials and since it wasn't on the menu, I was not aware that they offered it even. Nearing the end of our meal, I heard another server listing that off to the newly seated table next to us. Other than that, our server was quite friendly & it's a very casual unpretentious atmosphere.
I came here to accompany my gf's friend's birthday dinner. A somewhat last minute plan we split the Ribeye with Gorgonzola. The steak was grilled underdone to our request however most restaurants I've found tend to do the same. Still, an excellent cut with great char flavours and tenderness. Our side which looked like cubes of potatoes smothered in a gorgonzola sauce ended up being cubed polenta, lightly browned. An unusual and unexpected surprise. It was good, but it was heavy on the savoury scale. Portion size was above generous. A friend who also came alongside their gf liked their Spaghetti al Ragu with the simmered meat sauce with fresh herbs.
Service was good, without the reminders that I was dining on Robson St.
Warm, inviting space, fairly devoid of any instances of looking or feeling hip. Viable place for a date with the ambience and mood.
A good find for pasta on the strip.
This place has been on Robson for a long time but yet I never seemed to know what this restaurant was all about until yesterday. Located above the Robson street Cactuc Club is Zefferellis. Overrated joint with average food. Service was decent but I guess Cactus Club attracts more business than this place.
Food: Nothing special. I mean, come on, it's pasta. I had the Linguini Putanesca -- way too salty, but it did come with five large prawns. Anton's is way better.
Service: Okay. No complaints.
Value: I have a hard time paying so much for pasta. Portions are smaller than Anton's. Fortunately, I had a 2-for-1 Entertainment Coupon. I would not come back to this place without a coupon.
Ambiance: Cozy little room.
My co-workers decided to meet up for dinner downtown (on Robson Street no less) and picked Zefferelli's for dinner. I hate going anywhere near Robson as it is so hard to finding parking. Needless to say, I was 20 minutes late due to the parking issue.
As my co-workers had over 20 minutes to mull over the menu, they already knew what to have. I scanned the menu and decided on the stuffed portobello mushrooms with cheese as an appetizer and the rib eye steak for dinner. My other 3 co-workers all decided on pasta.
Presentation was nice for both my dishes. Food was decent, but was not remarkable. My portobello mushrooms were nice (although the cheese was a bit strong ... what kind of cheese was it ?) ... and the rib eye steak tasted like a piece of unseasoned steak. The only flavor that I got was from the balsamic vinegar and oil dressing that they drizzled around the plate and the natural juices from the meat. I like my meat seasoned, so the steak wasn't anything remarkable either. My meal wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything that I would rave about to others.
Lack of parking would prohibit me from making dinner plans again at this restaurant. And even if I were on Robson, there are other restaurants that I would probably try out first.
This place looks nice enough, being located in the heart of Robsonstrasse, but looks is all this place has going for it. The pasta was very unremarkable, although the service was friendly and courteous enough. The permium prices certainly do not reflect the quality of the food, but more the cost of the rent. I disagree with the previous critique. This place has nothing on Anton's. Save you money and fill two bellies for the price of one at Anton's. You aren't missing anything here...
Lunch at Zefferelli's is usually a solid bet, good service, a decent selection of wine and tasty food. Our party arrived (with a reservation) and were promptly seated. The place was perhaps half full. Service was quick, if brusque. I ordered the spagetti ragu. The food took some time to arrive, considering the place was half empty. The noodles were way too el dente, almost crunchy. The sauce was incredibly salty, I must have drank 5 glasses of water during and after the meal. In light of the past great meals there, I would not suggest avoiding the place, I hope it was just a one off.
Seems pricey, but very filling! I didn't try the pastas but the plates looked huge.
Food: chicken dishes are very tasty. I really liked the grilled chicken...nice and juicy and not soaked in sauces. Appetizers are on the expensive side.
Service: server was very nice, but didn't come around that often.
Ambiance: Clean and pleasant.
May come back for the pastas, but I'm not in a huge rush to go back since there's so many Italian restaurants along Robson St.
I was on menupalace.com and found they had a 25% off coupon for lunch or dinner and decided to have lunch with a few friends. Came here twice and both times the service was decent. I would have expected better service considering there are so many larger chain restaurants on Robson Street and the fact that this place is on the second floor may not appeal to many street-walkers.
Although service is lacking, the food is incredibly good!
Even without the 25% coupon, the prices are decent. Pastas range around $14-18 and they have smaller portions for all dishes at 11.50. We shared a salad, it was a decent size to share with 3 people.
Will return again to try out their dinner and dessert options.
This is a wonderful little Italian spot right downtown. Standard American Italian food, very good and competent. The atmosphere is wonderful, a very romantic spot. Service is very good. And yes, they do an exceptional Tiramisu.
4/5 of us complained about our food, either too dry or too spicy. I think the meatball I ordered was eating my teeth. Our server could only apologize to us and bring us some tomato sauce to soften the dry pastas.
The Wine list is full of trivial wines that you wont even bother glancing in liquor store. Since the menu is exclusively Italian food, why the hell even bother putting crappy Australian Shiraz to fill the wine list? They should focus more on Italian wines, like non-crap Chianti, sone supertuscan, nebbiolo, or even French/German wines. I saw some decent Malbec (El Felino) on the wall shelves but it wasn't even on the wine list. WTF ???
Finally, there is a salad bar in the middle of the room which I thought was buffet, but apparently that's where the waiters get your appetizers. Tells you something about the freshness.
My sisters and I went to Zefferelli's on Thursday night and made a reservation beforehand. Turns out one wasn't needed as the restaurant was less than half-full. Atmosphere is okay, really just a bunch of tables and a few lights strung up at the windows. Our waiter was pleasant enough and knowledgeable, however he neglected to tell us the specials (we ended up having to ask ourselves) and he pretty much vanished after our food came.
Our food was good overall. I chose the fettucine with chicken, leeks and a tomato cream sauce. My one complaint was that the fettucine stuck together a bit, like it was overcooked. One of my sisters had the delicious chicken parmesan. The other sis had pasta with prawns in a pesto sauce which was quite tasty.
Would I visit again? Yes, probably. The food was good enough for a repeat experience.
Zefferelli's is adding an automatic 17% tip to all bills irrespective of the service quality. The manager told us this is just for the Olympics so it obviously is just a money grab..
In addition, they are leaving a spot on the credit/debit card bill for an additional tip and many International visitors who do not have a good grasp of the english language may inadvertantly add another tip.
While this restaurant has reasonable food and service it is not good enough to warrant acceptance of this kind of treatment of our international guests
Same as the other reviewer mentioned, the place is extremely busy. Nonetheless, both the host and our server had been very attentive. I guess they were working for long hours so I didn't expect to squeeze a smile out of them. I would rate the service for a 4, but they never mentioned about the "split charge" and automatically charged us for our shared plate. Moreover, the 17% gratuity charge was simply outrageous; no wonder this place had a shorter line-up compare to other places in the nearby location.
Food wise, they lean on the salty side. I've tried other Italian places and this was by far the one with the strongest taste.
Price wise, I feel I am over-paying a little for the 17% surcharge. Therefore I didn't leave any tips at all.
The restaurant environment itself is great, but next time when I am in; I will be using my Entertainment book.
My friend and I decided to come here for dinner tonight after walking past this place numerous times while shopping on Robson street and always wanted to try it out. We weren't expecting much, except for good service and good pasta. Both were a huge disappointment.
Service: When we walked in, the room was basically empty except for maybe 5 tables and this was at 6pm on a weekday. Still we had to wait about 3 minutes before being approached and seated. Normally I wouldn't have any problems with this, but not when the staff was just standing around chatting. Once seated our server came by with the menus. She didn't introduce herself and just proceeded with telling us the specials and abruptly left when she was done. She came by later asking if we wanted any drinks. We ordered our drinks. However, we were also ready to order our appetizers and entrees. My friend had to yell out our appetizer of choice to her because by the time i finish saying my drink she was already leaving the table. When ordering our entree, my friend didn't know how to pronounce one of the words so she said spaghetti and pointed to the one she wanted. She had to repeat herself a couple times because the server seemed disinterested. Instead of paying attention to us, she was looking out the window. Also, we would have liked more bread because we were both hungry, but was never asked if we wanted more, nor did we get a chance to because our plates were cleared before we had the opportunity. We paid with cash so we had to ask for change and when I did, my friend said she made a face at me. Let's just say I wasn't very pleased.
Food: Nothing to rave about. Food was a little bland. Portion size was decent, but overpriced for the taste value.
Overall, I would not come back here again. The service was a huge turnoff. For the price of what i'm paying for dinner I expect top service. I tried many restaurants around town in this value range and this was tops in terrible service. The food could have made up for it, but unfortunately, it didn't leave much to desire.
Had dinner with friends here last night and really enjoyed the food and service. We had the featured seafood lasagne which was quite tasty and good size portion. The Spaghetti con Vongole was our favourite, all agreed it had the best sauce, white wine with olive oil. Best part was the value for your money, we used our Entertainment cards and received 4 dinner entrees for $36! Will return again!
Here's a restaurant we would not return to, or recommend. It was great a few years back, returned thinking we'd experience the same.... not. I mean really who makes pasta with 2/3 cream, 1/13 pasta, and a dab of seasoning? if you worked out all week the pasta dishes will surely kill all your progress. Bring alka-selzer for later on.
| 1. | Cactus Club Cafe (6 m) |  |
| 2. | Tropika (13 m) |  |
| 3. | Milestone's Grill and Bar (22 m) | |
| 4. | Thai House Restaurant (35 m) | |
| 5. | CinCin Ristorante + Bar (37 m) | |
| 6. | Jugo Juice (78 m) | |
| 7. | Earls (87 m) | |
| 8. | Cupcakes (92 m) | |
| 9. | Cafe Il Nido (95 m) | |
| 10. | Starbucks (96 m) |  |
